(Arlington) Ask 100 hockey players — even 1,000 or 10,000 — who their favorite player was when they were kids. The chances of them saying Mikkel Boedker’s name outright are pretty slim.
Yet this is the answer that Matthew Knies provided, without the slightest hesitation, during a press scrum a few weeks ago.
This choice says more about Knies than about Boedker, a forward who had a very honest career of more than 700 games in the NHL, but who never crossed the 20 goal plateau in a season. If the Dane’s biggest admirer wore the number 89 in his honor for a long time, it’s not just because he “was super fast”. It’s also, and above all, because he played for the Arizona Coyotes.
Knies, who will turn 21 in a few days, could very soon begin his first full professional season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Second-round pick (57e overall) in 2021, he is one of the organization’s few top prospects to have made his way to the NHL since Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner in the mid-2010s.
But he is also, like Matthews, one of the very rare players on the circuit to not only be born in Arizona, but to have grown up there and to have played his minor hockey there.
He therefore remembers as if it were yesterday the 2012 playoffs, during which the Coyotes, champions of the Pacific Division, reached the Western Conference final before bowing their flag to the Los Angeles Kings .
His heart is obviously in Toronto, but he stays true to his roots when he says he wishes “just good” for the Coyotes, who haven’t exactly had just good since moving to the area. in Phoenix in 1996. Until further notice, the team is stuck in a university arena with some 5,000 seats and has still not announced plans to relocate, to Arizona or elsewhere.
“Of course I want to see my childhood team succeed!” Knies said at the beginning of September, on the sidelines of the NHL Rookie Showcase. The event, organized jointly by card manufacturer Upper Deck and the Players Association, was presented in Arlington, a suburb of Washington.
“They are in the right direction,” he believes. Growing up, it meant a lot to me to be able to be associated with an NHL team. It’s frustrating to see people make fun of it without knowing what hockey represents in this community. If so many kids are playing today, it’s because of the Coyotes. This team deserves our encouragement. »
In Toronto
If we’re talking about Matthew Knies today, it’s because he represents one of the main attractions of the Maple Leafs training camp.
After signing his first professional contract after his season at the University of Minnesota, this Hobey-Baker Trophy candidate played two games in the season in the blue and white uniform, then seven more in the playoffs. He then collected four points, including a goal.
Since the start of camp, he has three points in two games. Wednesday night against the Buffalo Sabres, he was John Tavares’ left winger.
His current successes are slightly overshadowed by the excitement around Easton Cowan, the team’s first round pick in the last draft. Optimism is nevertheless there as far as Knies is concerned, who is not taking anything for granted.
“The playoffs allowed me to familiarize myself with the team and the rhythm of the NHL, but I have absolutely no guarantee of making the team,” he recalled in Arlington. The pressure inherent in such a hot market is “a privilege” for him.
This is, however, not his first tango. He was just 19 years old when he was selected for the U.S. team for the Beijing Olympics. Here too, he banked experience — “a very cool experience!” “, he said — which gave him wings for the rest of his university career.
With Matthews
Here he is today at the gates of the NHL, sitting in the same locker room as another of his youth idols, Auston Matthews. He also played on the same trio as his fellow Arizonan last spring.
Just a few days before the press meeting leading to this report, Matthews had just signed a contract which will make him the highest paid player in the NHL starting with the 2024-2025 season.
The Press asked Knies, quite simply, how good Matthews was in the eyes of those who share the ice with him every day.
“Pretty damn good!” “, he replied, smiling. Or as André Dupont would have said: good in your…
“I think he led the league in blocked shots among forwards last year… 92, right? “, he said. The statement is correct, as is the figure.
It shows that he is not just the best scorer in the league, he can also play defensively. He is, in my opinion, the most complete player in the league. He does everything well. He wins faceoffs, he blocks shots, he’s a good leader. It makes everyone’s life easier.
Matthew Knies on Auston Matthews
We can smile at the dithyramb, which will certainly not be unanimous at the Bell Center, Friday and Saturday evening, when the Leafs will be the visitors.
However, we cannot blame a gifted person from the desert for encouraging another.